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Local Indigenous farmers depend on the rainforest for income from cocoa cultivation, but also for food and medicine. Between 2023 and 2024, the price of cocoa rose from around USD 3 to almost USD 8 per kilogram.
Indigenous Baka communities in Cameroon are proving that sustainable cocoa farming can protect both livelihoods and wildlife.Local Indigenous farmers depend on the rainforest for income from cocoa cultivation, but also for food and medicine. Between 2023 and 2024, the price of cocoa rose from around USD 3 to almost USD 8 per kilogram. While this rise seems positive for Cameroon, where cocoa accounts for about 12% of annual exports, high prices also bring pressure for deforestation in the country’s rainforests, where much of its cocoa is farmed.
This is putting the biodiversity of these forests, and indigenous communities who depend on them, at risk. Supported by UNEP and the Global Environment Facility, the initiative provides local farmers with training and equipment to increase yields while halting deforestation and ultimately preserving the rainforest.
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